House Divided

I grew up the youngest of three girls. Our Dad, to my knowledge, didn’t seem to mind missing out on doing “boy stuff” i.e. football, baseball, basketball. We girls each had a horse, and we spent our downtime riding. Many of our weekends were spent at horse auctions or participating in small-town rodeo’s; TC was a pretty good barrel racer and Lance, the horse she “rescued” from an imminent glue factory roundup, proved to be formidable around those 3 barrels.



Once the house emptied out, Toby to Colorado College and TC to K-State… I remember doing some of that “boy stuff” with my Dad. We would go hit a bucket of balls, his back was in too bad of shape to play 18 holes but we could manage to get through 100 balls in an evening. We would also watch Royals baseball together. Those were the glory days; George Brett, Freddie Patek, Darryl Porter (May he rest I peace), Willie Wilson, Frank White… heck, I even remember Cookie Rojas at first base! And Whitey Herzog was our coach; yep, those sure were the days!


That was about the time I fell in love with KU hoops too. Rock Chalk Jayhawk, go KU! I learned and loved the legends of Phog Allen, the “Father of Basketball Coaching” and James Naismith; he invented the game of basketball, originally hanging two peach baskets where the modern netted baskets are today. I remember my first KU game in Allen Fieldhouse and the awe I felt at seeing the banner I'd always heard about, “Pay Heed All Who Enter; BEWARE OF THE PHOG", hanging way up in the rafters. Legend has it, coach Allen's spirit haunts KU's opponents when they play at his namesake.  Larry Brown was the coach in those days and we were part of the now defunct Big 8 Conference. College basketball was nothing like it is today. Back then, heck… we had only recently been introduced to cable TV. But once the 1987-88 season of “Danny and the Miracle’s” swept through town, you were hard pressed not to find a KU fan, especially where I lived which is just 30 miles northeast of Lawrence, Kansas… home to “Phog”Allen Fieldhouse.


Personally, I did not choose KU for my college education, a regret I will always have. I had instead set my sights on the University of Michigan; yes, I was almost a Wolverine. Suffice it to say I was following a boy there, and it didn’t work out in the end. He ended up at Washburn pursuing a Law degree and I majored in “Cosgrove’s and Mike’s” at Rockhurst College. That love affair ended after six years, my love affair with KU basketball continues to this day; it does not suck to be a Jayhawks basketball fan.


Mike is a KU grad, so life has always been easy in our house, not like those “house divided” folks. You know the ones I mean… he graduated KU; she went to K-State. Iowa Hawkeyes for him, Iowa State Cyclones for her… what a drag; so much bad Juju in the house on game day.


Today however, that all changed. I have accepted, fully and finally that we are now “one of those”; our peaceful coexistence and camaraderie regarding all things Jayhawks has ended.


Jordan, our junior in high school is a Kansas State Wildcats fan. This is not as much a huge surprise to me as it is an acknowledgement of failure as a parent; the signs have been there for a while. TC was a Wildcat and her daughter Ashley, who Jordie adores and patterns herself after, has followed in her mother’s pawprints.  The stars are clearly aligned against me regarding any future for Jordan as a Jayhawk.


Now I have dressed this kid in Crimson and Blue since the day she was born. We were watching home video’s last weekend and there she was just a baby, on St. Pete’s Beach wearing a Jayhawk T-shirt over her bathing suit to protect her delicate skin from the sun. A couple of years later she wore a KU sweatshirt on an airplane to Colorado. We still have the picture of our pilot holding “Flat Stanley”, disguised as Drew Gooden, in the cockpit. This is the kid who stood in line with me so Jerod Haase could sign our copy of “Floor Burns”, the book he wrote which is a chronology of his senior year at Kansas. For Christmas 2002, Santa left Jordan an authentic KU basketball signed by every single player and coach on the team that season, among them: Nick Collison, Kirk Hinrich, Keith Langford, Michael Lee, Aaron Miles, Wayne Simien, Roy Williams and be still my heart… Danny Manning. I mean come on… who gets that… besides a little girl groomed to be a Jayhawk forever.

This evening is the big Kansas basketball showdown. The Jayhawks are in Manhattan to take on the Wildcats in Bramlage Coliseum. K-State is proving to be a good team this year, they are currently ranked 11th in the country (AP Polls) and are 3rd in the Big 12. (We are currently ranked 2nd in the nation and are poised to move up to the #1 spot the next time the rankings come out. Just sayin…) But their inconsistencies such as knocking off “then” #1 in the country Texas, losing to a scrappy Mizzou, and barely getting by Baylor this week does nothing for our pre-game jitters. We are after all, playing in the “Octagon of Doom”.


Jordan is in Manhattan this weekend for the debauchery. Our niece Ashley is “in charge” and we are comforted by the fact that Jordan being just 16 years old, looks like she is 16 years old. No Aggieville for her tonight… (Hold your comments folks, let me have my fantasy!).


Mike and I are heading to Lawrence to watch the game with our “Jayhawk” friends Suzie and Norm. Apparently, a swanky new Hotel just opened in Lawrence near the campus with a great bar we’re going to check out. A far cry from the pandemonium going on in Aggieville or on Mass St. tonight, but surely geared more toward our speed.


Jordie is in Manhattan amongst “fellow” Wildcatters, Mikey and I are in Lawrence cheering on our Hawks.


We are: A House Divided.